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Formula One and MotoGP return to primetime on TEN

TEN has announced the 2012 Formula One and MotoGP seasons will be broadcast on Sunday nights in primetime.

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TEN has announced the 2012 Formula One and MotoGP seasons will be broadcast on Sunday nights in primetime.

From Sunday, April 22, at 9.30pm, motorsport fans will get to see all of the action, excitement and drama of the 2012 Formula One and MotoGP seasons.

This year is shaping up to be one of the hottest motorsport seasons in recent history, with three of the Australia’s best motorsport competitors taking to the grid.

The 2012 Formula One season boasts two Australian drivers for the first time in history, Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo. It will also be the longest season in the sport’s storied past, contested over 20 races.

With MotoGP’s Casey Stoner topping the time sheets at the official MotoGP testing circuit earlier this month, 2012 is set to be another stellar year for the Aussie two-time world champion.

Commenting on the announcement, Ronald J Walker AC CBE, Chairman of Australian Grand Prix Corporation, said: “Network Ten has always been an outstanding partner for Formula One and MotoGP in this country and this announcement is a terrific development. Primetime, 9.30pm on Sunday nights on TEN will prove very popular with all motorsport fans.”

Ten Network Holdings Chief Executive, James Warburton, said the return of the world’s premier sport to prime-time on Sunday nights would be a powerful addition to TEN’s successful Super Sunday line-up.

Formula One Driver Mark Webber said: “When I was growing up we had to deal with the Sunday night movie and it was quite frustrating. If it’s live and people get a chance to follow a sport that’s consistent and they know when it’s going to be on, there’s a real chance for people to get their teeth into it.”

Network Ten’s Head of Sport, David Barham, said: “With Australians being so well represented internationally in motorsport, this is the perfect time to deliver both Formula One and MotoGP races to viewers on TEN in prime-time.”

Network Ten’s Formula One and MotoGP broadcasts and pre-race preview will be hosted by the sport’s premier commentators, Daryl Beattie, Greg Rust and Craig Baird. The Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix will air on April 22 at 9.30pm, with the MotoGP Spain Grand Prix airing the following Sunday.

20 Responses

  1. Typical of commercial TV not in touch with their audience,and to pig headed to care, not that it seems to bother channel 10 but you’ve just lost another viewer

  3. Damn….I missed MotoGP qualifying on ONEHD at 2.30am
    OK I’ll watch a replay later on TEN
    We’ll ….err no….. .. It was actually shown on both channels at the same time. Good grief.

  4. I agree that the aussie GP 2012 must rank as the worst live coverage of a sporting event in the history of Australian TV. Cross promotion sucks. Minor celebrities .Has beens, Wanna-bees and Try hards
    Here comes an overtaking move…no sorry… we’ll just cross to a Bingle interview (paid for by her agent presumably).
    It was just totally creepy and an embarrasment to the genuine motorsport presenters.
    Tell us what you really think guys.

    I hate to think what they’ll do to the MotoGP at the island this year.

  7. @ Peter A…. I guess most people have higher expectations and would prefer a higher standard of coverage during the Aussie GP. The cross promoting failed. This was spectacular with the drop off from GP to YTT. So folk are quite right to challenge as to why we have to suffer this crap, especially when it just doesn’t work for the network anyway. Next year it may be better to extend the local GP broadcast and show the podium and interviews with the drivers etc.. It rated well, so may be more effective against the competition.

  8. What is with all this negativity? Seriously, ten has made an announcement that can only be good news for all motorsport fans. Yes, One had it live last year but with it now appearing on the main channel this can only give more options to more people. Re the AU GP, any channel that show sport live have the “fill”. Every channel does it. Personally, I think Ten did a great job with the support races, the commentators worked really well together. Jack Perkins and Will Davidson did a great job. The V8 coverage was good and we actually got to see Replays, something Seven are not good at. Personally I just ignore the fill between races.

  9. I will agree TENs coverage of the AU GP was a bit 2nd rate this year, I think they had too much time to file and file it they did with cross promotion with Breakfast and other shows. Also no sooner do we get out of the way to long add breaks during the race and we have banner ads across the screen for product.

    I just hope most of these problems are addressed when TEN takes the international feeds from other countries for the rest of the season.

    Oh and yes please TEN clarify ONE HDs position in this, last thing I want it the F1 to shift back to TEN and have some crappy movie or re-run on the HD channel while we watch the fuzzy ONE SD service.

  10. The whole F1 was a joke. So much cross promoting, tonnes of ads, interviews muted by commentators who were talking over the top of them (someone was interviewing one of the Ferrari drivers and we didn’t hear a thing he said as it was on mute) and no podium. Yeah it was a great afternoon at the Grand Prix.

    To think i wanted TEN to get League! Now i hope Seven throws its money into the fray because now i don’t want Nine or TEN to have it because covering sports don’t cut it. 2 weeks ago i had a totally different view on this. Amazing what an afternoon of watching TEN can do, that and the dismal Commonwealth Games coverage i am suddenly remembering.

    To this article itself, F1 moving to TEN means one thing that is going to happen in the near future and that is One won’t be showing it anymore.

  11. @Secret Squirrel – I also found the cross promotional stuff extremely annoying but all networks seem to think this is perfectly normal now (see nine cricket and seven tennis coverage as examples). However Paul Henry introducing “Laura” Bingle was rather hilarious.

  12. just to add to the comments re…ch10 F1 coverage of the aussie GP….. despite all the promos and a massive lead in of almost 1.4 million…YTT still only got 690k……to all the folk at ch10…..it does not work….mmmm…. do you understand…it does not work….really it doesn’t……geddit yet?

  13. @rockym – my understanding is that this will only apply to European rounds of the GP season. Obviously races like US, Canada & Brazil will fall well outside this time-slot.

  14. Oh yeah, I found the cross-promotion of some of Ten’s other programs during the Aus F1 to be really annoying, especially that kiwi guy from Breakfast. It’s bad enough that we get the food and fashion bollocks, or the cavalcade of inane questions to drivers busy signing autographs, but to hear about how great YTT is instead of seeing support races shows that Ten doesn’t understand that most people watching the F1 on TV will have no interest in those other programs, and certainly wouldn’t want to miss out on a support race to hear about it.

  15. this just doesn’t ad up, for example the usa motogp starts 2pm on sunday 29 july local time, which is 7.00am monday melbourne time, which means ten would be showing the race 6 and a half hours before it even starts? have i made an error or does this not make sense?

  16. I don’t get this. It was live in primetime last year on One, and with a one hour pre-show. I guess it might be good for people in regional areas who can only get a feed from channel 10 and not 1 but it’s nothing new for the majority.

    Will it still be shown on One and will the pre-show now only be half an hour like on channel 10?

    What does it mean for the regularly scheduled 8:30 program in Perth and Adelaide? When will that be shown or will we miss out? I’m really enjoying Homeland art the moment and I would hate for something of that quality to be bumped about because Ten have run out of ideas for “Super Sunday”.

  17. Will they still be live on OneHD, because why would I swap from watching it HD to watching it in ch10s fuzzy SD. I don’t see the point of it.
    And have to say ch10s broadcast of the AusGP was the worst I have seen in years, using the ‘Breakfast’ show for cross promotions was just terrible, and we ended up with less support events shown on tv.

  18. This release totally ignores One. Can we please clarify if extended coverage, qualifying and the race itself will remain on One in HD? If not, then this is effectively a downgrading of what F1 fans already get on One.

  19. Okay this is good new for those without a STB for access to the digital channels or in areas without ONE coverage but is it really needed for most fans?

    I just hope this doesn’t mean a reduction is support for ONE HD coverage in the long term.

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